Metro-North gives real-time train status on smart phones, computers

Since mid-January, when
MTA Metro-North railroad launched its new service, Train Time, more than 71,000
"hits" show it's a real hit with customers. And live demonstrations
are now going to hit the following stations: Hastings on Tuesday, February 9; Brewster
on Tuesday, February 16; Port Chester on Tuesday, February 23. From 7 a.m. to
9:30 a.m., Metro-North Customer Service representatives will demonstrate how
this convenient, real-time train status and schedule information is easily
accessible via smart phones and computers.

They will show how, by
using a web-enabled smart phone or computer, a customer can select a station
from the user-friendly drop-down menu and simply click. So far, 67 stations
across all three lines are on-line, including Grand Central and Harlem-125th
Street, and more will be added this spring.

"This new service
allows customers to check the status of train service in real time at their
home stations or wherever they are traveling," said Metro-North President
Howard Permut. "It gives people the freedom to plan a trip and get
up-to-the-minute information to make necessary adjustments while they are out
and about. We think it's a technology whose time has come."

Smart phones and computers
will show whether a train is On Time, Late, Canceled or Delayed, including the number of minutes it is late, also what track it will arrive on and what stops it makes.